Jas passed the ball from the sideline, and after exchanging glances with Jamison, the latter quickly moved up for a pick-and-roll.
Hansen used the screen to cut inside but suddenly turned around and dashed back to the three-point line.
Jas’s pass swiftly ca flying in.
Hansen caught the ball, but Wallace, not as quick as Garnett, could only desperately leap forward.
Seeing this, Hansen didn’t dodge; instead, he took off to et the challenge.
The basketball soared over Wallace’s fingertips, and Wallace’s body collided with Hansen.
The referee’s whistle blew, signaling Wallace’s three-point foul.
At that mont, Hansen demonstrated the body control skills he had gained from being the "Giant Slayer," quickly ducking after the collision and sliding backward as he landed.
Although he couldn’t avoid falling, it was a safe landing.
"Swish!"
Just then, a crisp sound echoed through the speakers.
This wasn’t a three-point foul but a 3 1!
to 6!
The Cavaliers had taken the lead, and Hansen had a bonus free throw to shoot.
At that point, Jamison and Williams hurriedly ran over to Hansen, pulling him up from the ground, one on each side.
In that mont, Hansen had the air of a Cavalier leader.
The photographers’ caras instantly focused on Hansen as he stood up.
After getting up, Hansen grabbed his No. 77 jersey and made his signature celebratory gesture.
The arena was roaring.
When O’Neal was sidelined due to injury, when Jas couldn’t perform due to his injuries, when Jamison couldn’t play his position either, and even when Williams couldn’t stand out, Hansen alone scored seven consecutive points to take the lead for the team.
For Hansen, who even wears helts while fishing with Jamison, he was undoubtedly the decision-maker for Cleveland!
In the first quarter, Hansen scored 14 points alone, leading the Cavaliers to end the quarter 28 to 23.
By the second quarter, Hansen was resting off-court when Jas geared up to play.
Jas had only made one basket and scored three points from free throws in the first quarter, so his entering the ga wasn’t surprising.
However, Brown inadvertently beca a "Sleeping Dragon" again.
Because in less than five minutes of this quarter, the Cavaliers forged ahead, extending the lead to double digits!
Tactically speaking, as Perkins quickly committed two fouls, Rashid Wallace had to enter the ga early, completely disrupting the Celtics’ strategies and forcing Rivers to switch Glen Davis in as center.
Davis seed big, but he was short and slow, clearly more offensive than defensive.
Jas’s maneuvers around Perkins were ineffective due to his injured elbow, but he was more than sufficient against Davis.
Of course, besides the lineup, Jas’s scoring desire could not be ignored!
After the last ga against the Bulls where a re 19 points lacked prestige, a situation where "the team wins but I don’t" was unacceptable to Jas and his team.
Especially before this ga started, Jas had just been "compared to Jordan." Even if injuries were to bla, poor stats would inevitably draw criticism.
So, scoring was essential.
If he couldn’t score during the starting period, he had to make it up during his ti off the bench.
Watching Jas repeatedly drive into the paint, even drawing Perkins’s third foul and sending him off the field, Hansen couldn’t help but be amused.
People say that Jas only has a historical level of physical fitness, who says that? That’s clearly slander!
Isn’t this staggered scheduling ability the proof?
By the ti Hansen geared up again, the Cavaliers already led the Celtics by 13 points, 40 to 27.
Then, facing Pierce’s help defense, Hansen imdiately nailed a three-pointer.
After making the shot, Hansen turned and enthusiastically greeted Rivers who was courtside:
"Are you really not going to guard ? If you don’t assign soone soon, I’m scoring 40 points tonight!"
Rivers responded politely again, but lifting his head to view the score, he felt helpless.
For two defensively oriented teams, a 16-point lead was nearly insurmountable.
Despite the Celtics showing their resilience, the Cavaliers, with ho court advantage, maintained their morale high and the score difference.
By halfti, the Cavaliers led 58 to 43.
Hansen had been on fire in the first half, scoring 21 points from eight out of thirteen shots, the highest in the ga.
His performance was stunning, but it was Barkley’s comnt at the scene that really amazed everyone,
"We have to realize, this is only his first playoff ga."
Many had overlooked this fact since he missed the entire first round.
Coming out for the second half, Hansen imdiately missed a shot.
The basket was sizzling.
Similar to the second encounter of the regular season, the Celtics began to adjust their defense, focusing on Hansen.
Though Rivers was slow to react, the 15 minutes at halfti allowed him to realize that Jas’ injury was a vulnerability.
However, once the first domino falls, it’s impossible to stop the rest.
Right when the Celtics shifted their defensive focus, Jas’ aggressive move caused Perkins to commit his fourth foul.
Forced off the court again, Perkins beca the last straw that overwheld the Celtics for the evening.
By the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers had extended their lead to over 20 points.
Hansen subdued at first in the quarter, then scored 7 more points, bringing his total to 28 by the end of the third.
In the final quarter, the Cavaliers firmly controlled the ga.
Although the Celtics launched a fierce counterattack at the end, they were still 12 points behind the Cavaliers with one minute left before the final buzzer.
The hole they’d dug for themselves was too deep to climb out of.
Both teams tacitly swapped out their main players, signaling an early conclusion to the match.
Hansen sat down feeling exceptionally cheerful.
Not only because the team had a big win in Ga 1, but also because his act of bravado had paid off.
His shooting cooled off in the fourth quarter, but he still managed to secure 5 points, finishing with a total of 33 points.
Not only was this a new playoff career-high for him, but it also marked a new career-high for a single ga.
Typically, with the Celtics’ strong defense, it wouldn’t have been so easy to score.
But Hansen always managed to score high against the Celtics; you could say they were his lucky charm, or, as he had said before the ga, Hansen really was their "daddy."
The emotions of the fans in the arena were also extrely high.
From the heartbreaking Ga 7 loss two years ago to the dominating encounter today, the feeling was exhilarating.
At that mont, led by soone unknown, the fans began to let out cathartic shouts.
The huge, mocking shouts even stunned Hansen.
Because that was clearly...
"Who is your daddy!"
Hansen had claid he was the "daddy" of the Celtics before the ga, and now, they were asking, who really was their daddy?
The arena photographers, keenly aware, imdiately turned their caras to the Celtics bench, focusing on the Green Army’s Big Three.
Ray Allen showed no reaction, Garnett just had an ashen face, but Pierce couldn’t hold back; he got up to retaliate but was vigorously held back by Rondo.
The Cavaliers bench erupted in laughter, many trying hard to hold it in, but Hansen could no longer hide his amusent.
To be honest, his pre-ga talk was rely to remotely provoke Pierce, the notorious troublemaker, to create so antagonism before the ga.
It also served to boost the team’s morale.
Both had effectively worked.
But this situation was sothing he definitely hadn’t anticipated.
Because this brought forward that piece of history he knew by over a decade!
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason he was laughing; more importantly, with the Cleveland fans stirring things up, how could Boston’s fans stand it?
Thinking ahead, he knew without his further manipulation, just his appearance at North Shore Garden Arena would skyrocket his villain score.
This truly was a subli mont of shock as if Qin Shi Huang had touched a live wire.
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